It’s the time of year where you need to be ‘eggs-tra’ careful about your dogs snaffling chocolate, which of course is toxic for them. So please be cautious with Easter eggs especially if you are having an Easter egg hunt in the garden – make sure your pooch doesn’t find them before you, or after you – taking care to make sure that you have found them all.

Whilst chocolate sales will be keeping the tills ringing this week, there are a number of ‘alternative Easter gifts’ to consider for the keen gardener. My favourite is Chocolate Cosmos – Cosmos atrosanguineus. The pretty perennial has beautiful chocolate scented, velvety, maroon flowers from mid to late summer and is great at the front of a border or in a decorative pot by the front or back door or seating area, so you can best appreciate the stunning scent. It’s areal talking point and no one ever believes that it smells as chocolatey as it does – until they smell it themselves.

The most traditional Easter flower is the white Easter lily (Lilium longiflorum), symbolizing purity, rebirth, and hope, so they would make a nice gift as cut flowers or even give as bulbs to be planted between now and the end of May. As well as the Easter lily, there are numerous lily varieties to choose from, all of which are easy to grow and look wonderfully exotic when in bloom. I have planted mine in large tubs which are by the side of the shed now (remembering to water them well) but will be moved next to various benches when they are in bloom, for the fabulous scent.